“Seventh, sir, Royal Fusiliers, sir!”

“And while you were still sucking the milk from your mother’s titties, Potter, forgive me, ma’am, Sergeant Case was fighting! Fighting, boy! Ain’t that the case, Case?”

“Battle of the Alma, sir! Siege of Sevastopol,” Case snapped, and Starbuck got the impression that he was listening to a much practiced dialogue.

“But Sergeant Case is a patriot, Potter!” Holborrow continued, “and when the Yankees broke the Union by attacking us, Sergeant Case left Her Majesty’s service to fight for Jeff Davis and liberty. He was sent here, Potter, to turn the Yellowlegs into a proper regiment instead of a bunch of schoolgirls. Ain’t that the case, Case?”

“Sir!”

“And you,” Holborrow spat at Potter, “dare to countermand a man like Sergeant Case! You should be ashamed of yourself, boy. Ashamed! Sergeant Case has forgotten more about soldiering than you ever learned or ever will learn. And if Sergeant Case says a man deserves punishment, then punished he shall be!” Holborrow stepped back and took Sally’s hand into his again. “But seeing as how you’re a ray of Georgia sunshine, ma’am, I’ll spare you from seeing any more unpleasantness this afternoon. I think your husband has learned his lesson, so thank you, Sergeant Case.” Holborrow nodded to the sergeant, who scowled at Starbuck, then marched stiffly back to the parade ground. Holborrow ordered the freed prisoner to make himself scarce, and then, his grip still enfolding Sally’s hand, he turned back to Starbuck. “So where have you been, boy? Your father wrote that you’d left Atlanta ten days back. Letter got here, but you didn’t! Ten days! It don’t take ten days from Atlanta to Richmond, boy. You been drinking again?”

“It was my fault,” Sally said in a frightened little voice. “I had the fever, sir. Real bad, sir.”

Lucifer giggled at Sally’s invention and Holborrow’s head snapped round. “You snigger once more, boy, and I’ll whip the flesh clean off your black bones. Is he your nigger?” he asked Starbuck.

“Yes,” Starbuck said, wondering how the hell he would back out of this deception.

“Yes, sir,” Holborrow said, correcting him. “You forgetting I’m a Colonel, Potter?”

“Yes, sir. I mean no, sir.”

Holborrow, still holding Sally’s hand, shook his head at Starbuck’s apparent confusion. “So how is your father?” he asked Starbuck.

Starbuck shrugged. “I guess,” he began, then shrugged again, suddenly bereft of imagination.

“He’s mending,” Sally said. She was enjoying the play-acting much more than Starbuck who, though he had started it, was now regretting the deception. “Thank the Lord,” Sally said as she finally extricated her fingers from Holborrow’s grasp, “but he is surely mending.”

“Praise the Lord,” Holborrow said. “But you’ve been a burden to him, boy, a burden,” he snarled at Starbuck, “and you’ll forgive my bluntness, Mrs. Potter, but when a man’s son is a burden it’s right he should be told plain.”

“It sure is,” Sally agreed firmly.

“We was expecting you a week ago!” Holborrow snarled at Starbuck, then gave Sally a yellow-toothed smile. “Got a room all set up for you, ma’am. Bed, washstand, clothes press. The reverend wanted you comfortable. Not to be pampered, he said, but comfortable.”